Common Bond: Find The Missing Person! Quiz

Answer: Ronald

McDonald's is a chain of fast food restaurants, founded in the USA in 1940 by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald. Businessman Ray Kroc bought the chain and built it into the worldwide chain we all know and love, with restaurants in over 100 countries.

It primarily sells typical American food, with hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fries, and chicken items on the menu. Mascot Ronald McDonald first appeared in 1963 on TV commercials, based on Bozo the Clown and portrayed by Bozo's creator. Actors often dress as him, performing such duties as visiting children in hospital.

The Ronald McDonald House Charities have houses in over 50 countries, providing a "home away from home" for families of sick children.

Answer: Dudley

The star was Dudley Moore, playing the character Dudley Bristol, a divorced pianist who lives with his son, teenager Fred. Unfortunately, the series was canceled one episode before its end, and ran for less than a month in 1993 on channel CBS with only five episodes airing.

Dudley and Peter Cook famously formed a comedy duo, playing characters called "Pete and Dud". Dudley was devastated by Peter's death in 1995. Dudley was most famous for his roles in his breakthrough "10", a romcom also starring Bo Derek, and the film mentioned in the question, "Arthur", for which he was nominated for an Oscar (Best Actor in a Leading Role).

Answer: Half blood

The half blood knot is used by fishermen to secure a fishing line to a lure. It is tied by threading the line through the eye of the lure, and then wrapping the free end around the length of the line five or six times. The end is then passed through the first loop that was formed through the eye, and pulled tight. Two half blood knots can be combined in rope to form either a blood knot or a barrel knot, which are very similar; in a barrel knot, the ropes are wound one clockwise and one anti-clockwise, while in a blood knot, both follow the same direction, either clockwise or anti-clockwise.

Answer: Snowy owl

The scientific name of the snowy owl is Bubo scandiacus, and it is one of the largest species of owl. Like many birds, they exhibit sexual dimorphism; the young birds are white with a lot of dark spots on their plumage, almost like little stripes. As they grow older, they tend to lose the darker feathers, with the males becoming almost pure white, and the females sometimes retaining some dark parts. Snowy owls usually have one partner, with whom they mate for life.

Answer: Lily

Born in 1985, Lily became famous first under her maiden name Lily Allen, but is now using the name Lily Rose Cooper professionally, following her marriage to Sam Cooper. She sings with her distinctive London accent, and her debut album "Alright, Still" (2006) derived influence from Jamaican ska music, and featured her first single "Smile", which reached number one in the UK chart. Lily later expressed regret that the lyrics on this album were so direct and crude, and took a new musical direction with "It's Not You, It's Me" (2009), tending more toward electropop.

Answer: McGonagall

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1825, William Topaz McGonagall was most linked with the city of Dundee, which he often wrote about. One example is the poem mentioned in the question, "The Tay Bridge Disaster", which recounted the collapse of the Tay Rail Bridge in 1879 as a train was traveling over it. McGonagall was much mocked for his poetry, but he seemed not to mind; he made money reciting his work at local circuses, where the audience was permitted to pelt him with eggs, herring, and other foodstuffs.

He even wrote a poem in protest when the city magistrates stopped the performances!

Answer: Mandrake

Mandrakes contain many hallucinogens, and have been used medicinally despite the fact that they are poisonous. As well as an anesthetic, they have been used, according to Pliny the Elder, as a fertility booster; this seems to corroborate those who think that the mandrake is the plant referred to by the Jewish name "dudaim" ("love plant") in the Christian Bible. In Genesis, Leah's son had found some mandrakes. Her sister Rachel was barren, and so, knowing the Jewish tradition that the plant increased fertility, she asked Leah for the plants. Both sisters were married to Jacob, who preferred Rachel. Jealous of this, Leah surrendered the plants in exchange for a night with Jacob. Unfortunately Rachel still had to wait a long time to conceive, when God blessed her with fertility.

The mandrake is still used in Wicca for love magick, and also in divination; it is believed the humanoid roots will shake their heads "yes" or "no" when asked a question. Many books on witchcraft give instructions on how to harvest the mandrake, which was reputed to scream when dug up, killing all who heard.

Answer: Phoenix

The phoenix is a fire bird present in various Eurasian mythologies. Its description varies, but it is often gold- and scarlet-colored with a large tail. About every 1000 years, the bird builds a nest which catches fire, and both bird and nest are reduced to ashes. Depending on the source, the same phoenix rises again from the ashes, or the new phoenix is the offspring of the one that burned. In Greek mythology, they lived in Lebanon, which was then called Phoenicia.

Phoenix is the capital and largest city of the US state Arizona. It lies in the Sonoran Desert, and as such has very hot summers and a climate more akin to cities in the Middle East, often exceeding 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) throughout the year.

The constellation Phoenix is small and located in the southern sky. It gets its name from the bird, and its brightest star Alpha Phoenicis is also known as Ankaa, which is Arabic for "phoenix". The constellation is home to one of the most massive galaxy clusters.

Answer: Black

The flag of Estonia contains blue, black and white stripes, and is colloquially called "blue-black-white" ("sinimustvalge"). What each color represents differs between sources, but an interpretation from a poem called, simply, "The Estonian Flag" by Martin Lipp is popular; blue represents the sky, black represents both the soil and a dark past for Estonia, while white represents hard work and a bright future.

The black-red-gold tricolor of Germany was adopted in 1919 in the Weimar Republic, although it has been used since the 1800s in the country, particularly during the March Revolutions (Revolutions of 1818). The origins of the colors are not quite known, but different explanations include from the uniform of the Lützow Free Corps, which were black with red linings and gold buttons, and also that gold and black represent the empire of Austria, and red represents the Hanseatic League.

The flag of Yemen, comprising red, white and black stripes, was adopted in 1990 when North Yemen and South Yemen united. Its design resembles the Arab Liberation Flag, and these colors can be seen also in the flags of countries such as Egypt and Iraq. The red represents the blood of martyrs, while, similar to Estonia, the white represents a bright future and the black represents a dark past.

Answer: Harry Potter

Harry Potter is the protagonist of the series of the same name, written by J.K. Rowling and comprising seven books. He is a wizard who attends a magic school, and the books chronicle each year of his life at this school, as he seeks to destroy an evil wizard, Voldemort, who murdered his parents.

Links:
1. RONALD "Ron" Weasley is Harry's best friend; the two become rather like brothers as Harry is unofficially adopted into the Weasley family.
2. DUDLEY is the name of Harry's badly-behaved cousin, whom he is forced to live with when Dudley's parents, Harry's aunt and uncle, adopt him following the deaths of his parents.
3. Harry is a HALF BLOOD wizard, as his father was born a wizard while his mother was born a "Muggle", or a non-magical person. Also, one of the books has the title "The HALF BLOOD Prince", which refers not to Harry, but to a professor he deeply dislikes, Professor Snape.
4. Harry's beloved pet, Hedwig, is a SNOWY OWL, given to him as a gift for starting wizard school.
5. LILY is the name of Harry's mother.
6. Minerva MCGONAGALL is a professor of Transfiguration at Harry's school, Hogwarts, and becomes very fond of him.
7. In his second year, the class learned to harvest MANDRAKES, which were used to cure students that year who had been turned to stone, or petrified, by a basilisk rampant in the school.
8. The Order of the PHOENIX is an organization that Harry joins, and is devoted to defeating Voldemort. Also, the Headmaster and Harry's father figure, Professor Dumbledore, has a pet PHOENIX named Fawkes who saves Harry's life.
9. Harry's beloved godfather is named Sirius BLACK.